The Kennedy Proposal: Fighting Out Of The NCAA Recession

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Fighting out of a Recession

The Following is a blurb from Robert A. Heineman, Steven A. Peterson, and Thomas H. Rasmussen, authors of American Government Second edition, Chapter 13, “Economy Policy” pg. 277:

“Under President Bush :

A strong economy contributed heavily to George Bush’s victory in 1988. President Bush supported the Fed’s effort to tighten the monetary policy, hoping to slow the rate of inflation without slowing the economy. The effort was not successful.

Unemployment rose to 7.4 percent in 1992 and the economy grew at an anemic 2.6 percent rate. Should the federal government have pursued a more expansionary fiscal or monetary policy to stimulate the economy during 1990 and 1991?

President Bush’s own CEA, with the benefit of hindsight, thought that a more expansionary policy would have stimulated economic growth without setting the fires of inflation ablaze. As the 1992 election approached, the Fed eased interest rates to stimulate the lagging economy. But poor economic performance cost George Bush his job.

Several factors contributed to the economic weakness which plagued George’s Bush presidency.

First, European and Asian states were hit by recession, meaning that our largest trading partners were buying fewer goods.

Second, cuts in military spending hurt communities where bases were closed or military suppliers lost orders.

Third, construction was slow because of the glut of commercial real estate built during the 1980s.

Fourth, low birth rates in the late 1960s means that fewer young families were forming households, building homes, and buying appliances.”

This is exactly what the Kennedy Proposal inhibits, an Expansionary Policy. To save our economy, we as a people must invest. But what is there to invest in? Why not invest in ourselves, into our grandchildren’s grand children?

Why not invest our time and effort into something the majority of us want and what the majority will benefit from?

To be honest, the insertion of the Kennedy Proposal comes at the cost of the FBS student-athlete resting periods and study sessions; however, in the end, they are still NCAA student-athletes, and if some NCAA student-athletes have to compete during finals, than these NCAA student-athletes should compete during finals.

If the FBS student-athletes wish to sacrifice minimal resting periods and study sessions, then they will become the Heroes’ of our Generation. The majority of these young maturing adults is 18-24. This age group would be the savior of THE NCAA Economic Recession.

How convenient that these games would be broadcast on ESPN, the Worldwide Leader In Sports. We live in an entertainment driven world, why not expand? Why not have the entire world revolved around the inserting of a FBS playoff? Will the BCS say no? Will they say yes? Does this really need to go to Washington?(There months later I take it there myself, who would have thunk?)

Who benefits the most from the Kennedy Proposal? The Bowl Championship Series. They will afford the players, coaches, and fans a playoff, keep their bowl games, and become a large factor toward the balancing of the current NCAA Economic Recession.

Here is a blurb from a BBC news article in relating to the Great Depression

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/britain/depressionrev3.shtml

How did the government react?

These four actions made things worse:

1. Raising income tax.

2. Cutting unemployment pay by 10 per cent.

3. Introducing the means test.

4. Adding import duties to goods from abroad.

These four actions helped to end the Depression:

1. Came off the gold standard—this allowed the government to increase the amount of money in circulation.

2.  Reduced interest rates - this reduced people's debt payments and made more money available to spend, but also encouraged them to take out loans to spend more.

3.  The Special Areas Act (1934) - tried to attract light industries to the 'distressed' areas.

4.  Local councils built 500,000 council houses, which pumped money into the economy.

In conclusion, they are saying that in order to help the economy we must pump money back into it. The FBS playoff afforded by the Kennedy Proposal inhibits this exact idea. Here’s the breakdown.

1. “to increase the amount of money in circulation”, TARP plans to do just that, and now the people and companies will have a major entity to invest in—the FBS.

2. “made more money available to spend, but also encouraged them to take out loans to spend more” Why wouldn’t the people invest in what they asked for?

3. “The Special Areas Act (1934) - tried to attract light industries to the 'distressed' areas.” Perfect. The cities hosting these games would become “Special Areas”. Instead of attracting light industries to distressed areas, we would be attracting people to distressed areas and using the Saturday night lights.

The NCAA is a government, a national government. They are currently yin a Recession and need to expand—the Kennedy Proposal affords them this opportunity.

To view the Kennedy proposal: BCS Mini-Playoff, please click on the following link. Once you have arrived at the website, look under "documents", the Kennedy proposal is the 2nd pdf. file.

Http://think.mtv.com/groups/thekennedyproposal/

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